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Learning Tips 39 LEARNING TIP 15 If You Don't Understand, Get Help Fast If you don't understand a fact or idea thoroughly once you've read it and it's been explained in class, or once the homework assignment on it has been discussed, look for help immediately. It's particularly crucial not to wait if the course is in math or a science, where each new bit of information is built on the step before it. If anyone step is rickety, your entire staircase to understanding will collapse. One way to get help is to look for alternative reading matter. Often there are several ways an idea can be explained , and one author's explanation may make a lot more sense to you than another's. If you can find a programmed book on the subject, you're in luck. These books are written for people who are learning independently, and they're meticulously prepared so that information is divided into tiny bits. They help you pinpoint exactly which part of a problem you're stumbling over, and aid you in correcting any misconception before you go any further. Computerized programmed courses are equally helpful. Teaching machines and audiovisual aids may also be available in your subject area. Ask in your school study lab for help in finding these materials. Many textbooks have companion workbooks that offer additional problems and solutions. If your book has one, it's probably mentioned in the introduction or preface, or on the title page. While workbooks rarely contain explanatory text, doing problems and checking them helps you remember a difficult idea or fact. But by far the best help is a personal tutor-someone you can look in the eye and ask. And the best kind of tutor has 40 STUDY SMARTS the following qualities: he knows the course content cold, he has good judgment about how to teach it, he understands the special problems that confront beginners or slow learners, and-most important-he's anxious to help. Studies show that, for most people, having a live tutor on just 25 percent of the course content is as good as having a tutor on 100 percent of it-even if you're having lots of trouble with the subject. It's a good point to keep in mind if you're paying the tutor. There's another point about tutoring that bears remembering . Research shows that, in many cases, tutors' grades go up as much as their tutees' grades. That's because, in trying to explain a difficult concept to someone else, you have to fix it clearly in your own mind. It's the reason why studying with a friend is often so helpful even when your friend knows less than you do about the subject. But if you do get help with your ideas from a friend who's not a tutor in the course, be sure that she knows what she's talking about. Independently check out whatever you learn from her. To be safe, study first on your own, so that you have some basis to separate fact from half-truth. ...

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